Agency Director Kimberly Cheatle said in her opening remarks to the House Oversight Committee on Monday that the Secret Service recently “failed” in its mission to protect former President Donald Trump during the Pennsylvania campaign rally in which he was shot by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks via Mediaite.
Testifying before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Cheatle stated that she took “full responsibility” for the security breach that got Trump wounded, one rally attendee dead and two others critically injured. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has opened three separate investigations into what happened.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed. As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” Cheatle told the committee.
She continued: “Let me state unequivocally nothing I have said should be interpreted to place blame for this failure on our federal, state or local law enforcement partners who supported the secret service in Butler. We could not do our job without them. We rely on the relationships built over years of working together to secure events and conduct investigations. Our agents, officers and support personnel understand that every day we are expected to sacrifice our lives to execute a no-fail mission.”
She continued: “As witnessed on July 13th, our special agents shielded former president trump with their own bodies on stage while shots were being fired. Selflessly willing to make the ultimate sacrifice without hesitation. I’m proud beyond words of the former president’s detail, the counter sniper team who neutralized the gunman and the tactical team who was prepared to act.”
It has been also noted that the House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) ripped into Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle after she testified that her agency “failed” to protect former President Donald Trump from a would-be assassin’s bullet earlier this month.
In remarks provided before Monday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Comer stated that the shooting that took place in Butler, Pennsylvania was “preventable” as several agents and local police officers — as well as rallygoers — saw gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks hours before he climbed the roof of a nearby building and opened fire, hitting Trump in the ear, wounding two others, and killing fire chief Corey Comperatore. Comer said:
“While we give overwhelming thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable. The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence.” He, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), also called on Cheatle to resign.
The Secret Service has a zero-fail mission, but it failed on July 13th and in the days leading up to the rally. The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence. The Committee has a long track record of providing oversight of the Secret Service. Our predecessors, both Jason Chaffetz and Elijah Cummings, among others, worked together to issue warnings and recommendations to address obvious shortcomings in the agency’s makeup and operations. Unfortunately, those warnings and recommendations have gone unheeded.
A former president and current candidate for president was shot in the head by a sniper within 500 feet of the podium. This is unacceptable, and we are concerned the Secret Service lacks the proper management to keep protectees safe from bad actors. Americans demand answers, but they have not been getting them from the Secret Service. We are instead learning about new facts about the events surrounding the attempted assassination every day from whistleblowers and leaks. Americans demand accountability. But no one has yet to be fired for this historic failure.
Today’s witness, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, is here under subpoena to answer questions about how the agency failed President Trump and the victims who attended the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign. However, in complete defiance, Director Cheatle has maintained she will not tender her resignation. Therefore, she will answer questions today from members of this Committee seeking to provide clarity to the American people about how these events were allowed to transpire.
